how to settle a joint mortgage?

mdturner81

Hello, advice needed please. My girlfriend and I bought a house in April and we have agreed to end our relationship for different reasons. Now we have to decide what to do with the property and its contents. Of course I want to keep the house but so does she, and we both have our reasons for wanting to keep it. For me it is in my hometown of 28 years (not hers), i have a job 2 minutes walk away where i have been for 5 years and also i am 6 years older than her and dont like the thought of moving back to my parents or having to save again for a new house. She also wants to train as a midwife therefore she wouldn't be able to afford the house. The mortgage is a 3 year, 100% tracker for £80,000 which of course is on a good rate at the moment, and i earn a basic of about £17,000 pa. I also have about £2000 in savings which i was saving for when we remortgage, which we wont be doing now! Any advice please. Also I found out that in Dec' she was already looking into securing the house for herself and asking me to leave, this was before i knew we had problems! and her grandparents were going to offer her £40,000 towards the mortgage. I would like this to be as painless as possible!!!

Robert_Sterling_3

You both want the house.
You can't both have the house.
Is there equity in the house or perhaps negative equity in the house.

One of you needs to say "If you let me take over the mortgage for the house I will give you X pounds"

The second one then replies either "OK" or "I will give you ( X+ Y ) pounds if you let me take over the mortgage"

You have an incentive to bid higher because it has advantages for you that do not apply to your partner.

She is in a strong position because of family financial support.

Keep bidding until a winner emerges.

You could have a day or so between each bid etc etc

Good luck to you both.

[ If there is negative equity then X can be negative too ]

mdturner81

Thanks for your help. I believe we will be in negative equity, maybe only slightly. The house needs a lot of work to bring it upto date, so far only the living & dining rooms have been done (which is another reason for me wanting to keep it as ive put in soo many hours of work on the house!). With it being these 2 rooms i dont think the value will have been raised very much and house prices here have taken a bit of a drop. Also i would say two thirds of the house contents are mine as i started to buy things before i bought a house to help ease the costs, and my £2000 savings i think would cover the costs of the other items such as white goods and some furniture.

getmore4less

mdturner81 wrote: »

Hello, advice needed please. My girlfriend and I bought a house in April and we have agreed to end our relationship for different reasons. Now we have to decide what to do with the property and its contents. Of course I want to keep the house but so does she, and we both have our reasons for wanting to keep it. For me it is in my hometown of 28 years (not hers), i have a job 2 minutes walk away where i have been for 5 years and also i am 6 years older than her and dont like the thought of moving back to my parents or having to save again for a new house. She also wants to train as a midwife therefore she wouldn't be able to afford the house. The mortgage is a 3 year, 100% tracker for £80,000 which of course is on a good rate at the moment, and i earn a basic of about £17,000 pa. I also have about £2000 in savings which i was saving for when we remortgage, which we wont be doing now! Any advice please. Also I found out that in Dec' she was already looking into securing the house for herself and asking me to leave, this was before i knew we had problems! and her grandparents were going to offer her £40,000 towards the mortgage. I would like this to be as painless as possible!!!

You can have as many reasons as you like they count for nothing you need to find the money.

How are you going to fund the mortgage? especilay if rates go up.

There is now way you will get 100%+ at 4X salary

She will have 50% deposit and only be looking to fund £40k mortgage which will be probably be possible.

The painless way out is to probably let her have it unless you find some money from somewhere

Second hand house stuff is close to worthless.

mdturner81

Thing is i know i can afford the mortgage on my own even if the rate goes up to what we started on which was 6%. Where as she cannot, especially with bills on top, she already owes money to her parents for her car, as well as a credit card and overdraft. Add to that the money i would want from her for the house. I have none of these debts and i know i can reduce my bills even more. The main problem for me is the mortgage company allowing my sole name to be on the mortgage, and of course her agreeing to this.

Merry_Gentry

It doesn't matter how much she owes her parents, etc. If she has their support, especially financial, she may well be in a better position to take over the house. I think you need to get the house valued - to see how big the drop in value is - and then move from there. But although your reasons make sense to you she will have her reasons why she is in a better position to take over the house. You need to put those aside and look at who can afford to buy who out.

Robert_Sterling_3

I think you should start by estimating the value of the house.
Use Halifax Price Index or Nationwide Price Index or both.
Also mouseprices and nethouseprices zoopla Rightmove etc

the chances of either of you getting a mortgage on your own will be lessened by the amount of negative equity.

getmore4less

mdturner81 wrote: »

Thing is i know i can afford the mortgage on my own even if the rate goes up to what we started on which was 6%. Where as she cannot, especially with bills on top, she already owes money to her parents for her car, as well as a credit card and overdraft. Add to that the money i would want from her for the house. I have none of these debts and i know i can reduce my bills even more. The main problem for me is the mortgage company allowing my sole name to be on the mortgage, and of course her agreeing to this.

She has £40k what have you got?

I just do not see how you can get someone to lend you the money.

You will need 1/2 the negative equity and another 10% to stand any chance of taking this on and prices are still faling.

letting her have it but you try to pay nothing(hope you have not allready said if you buy it she will have to pay you) could be the best deal you can get.

The longer you spend trying to get this yourself the lower the price goes.

If you really bellieve she cannot afford it let her have it move home save for the deposit and buy it when she has to sell later.


You have to forget the emotion and theorising what she can/cant do.


Ask yourself this question, would you have been able to buy this place on your own when you bought it as a couple , if not you have no hope of doing it now.

mdturner81

Ok, my ex partner has said that i may keep the house, and buy some of the contents at a price that we will have to agree on. I have just asked my mortgage company about the situation and they are looking into removing her name from the current mortgage but keeping everything else the same at a charge of £135, this depends on whether they believe i can make the monthly payments (£300pm) as i have no other credit commitments there may be chance of this working. Otherwise it may be a case of finding a guarantor for part of the mortgage, does this seem a good deal or likely to work anyone?

Robert_Sterling_3

Thank you for the update.
Good luck with your mortgage application.